CARE Capability Building

CARE Capability Building Mentoring Guide

Contents • Overview of Effective Mentoring Practices • Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship • Components of an Effective Mentoring Relationship • Characteristics of an Effective Mentor • Build an Effective Supportive Role as Mentor • Effective Mentoring Techniques • Active Listening in Communication • Delivering Effective Feedback • Effective Questioning Techniques • Managing the Mentoring Relationship • Positive Ends to New Beginnings • Mentoring Program Activities • Create a Mentoring Agreement • Using the Mentoring Curriculum • Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships • Recommended Reading on Mentoring

Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship Mentoring provides advantages to everyone involved if the time and commitment are given by all parties from the start of the mentoring program. Benefits for mentors Benefits for mentees Benefits for organizations • Gain respect from mentee, colleagues, supervisors for mentoring commitment • Benefit to own work from hearing mentee’s ideas through discussions • Renew enthusiasm for work through reward of motivating another person to succeed • Access value chain-specific knowledge through instruction, individualized professional development • Acquire role-modelling of market facilitation skills and behaviors • Understands professional development opportunities and sets goals • Expand organisational communication and understanding: both national and international communications improve • Improve recruitment and retention of qualified employees • Build skilled employees to fill positions through promotion within the organization

Components of an effective mentoring relationship Formal mentoring usually involves specific goals in terms of professional development. With these types of relationships, it is useful to set up goals and timeframes for meeting these goals. A formal mentoring relationship can have either a formal written or verbal agreement, depending on the complexity of the established goals • Share information, knowledge, experiences and wisdom • Provide valuable opportunities by facilitating networking and increasing contacts • Challenge, stimulate curiosity and build confidence by presenting new opportunities, ideas and challenges • Help mentees set goals, discover talents, interests and define and attain their goals • Support mentees by encouraging their growth and achievement by providing an open and supportive environment • Be a role model for your mentee, share stories of your achievements and failures / challenges • Ask powerful questions to facilitate the mentee’s discovery and learning process, and advance your own learning and development as a mentor

Characteristics of an effective mentor As a mentor, you can use the skills that you have to become very effective in your role. During the program you will demonstrate your knowledge of CARE and Market Engagement, excellent interpersonal skills,influence and respect and commitment. Knowledge of CARE and Market Engagement • Understands CARE and its strategic goals • Provides guidance on making progress in value chain initiatives • Provides career development advice and support • Encourages mentee to set and achieve career goals Excellent interpersonal skills • Demonstrates excellent communication skills • Gives clear instructions, demonstrations, and role-modeling • Listens actively at all times to understand mentee’s needs / strengths • Stimulates mentee’s development through guidance and questioning Influence and respect • Commands influence, respect and credibility within CARE and the wider development field • Introduces mentee to professional networking opportunities • Acts as an advocate for the mentee Commitment • Involves him/herself in mentee’s (career) life with genuine interest • Take risks to provide career guidance and key decisions • Makes time for mentoring among other work commitments • Relates to the mentee on a personal and professional level

Build an effective supportive role as mentor Mentors need to be able to provide support to mentee as necessary to address challenges, keep professional goals and work on track. It will also be important to help mentees regain confidence when experiencing personal or professional problems, by using support strategies with mentees. Further support tools are detailed in the next section of this pack. Establish Trust Provide Encouragement • Tell your own story to build a relationship with your mentee on a personal and professional level • Ask open-ended questions to help conversation flow and find out more about your mentee • Find common ground to help build strong foundations for your working relationship • Encourage your mentee when she / he comes to you with a challenge • Listen without judging to provide a safe environment for your mentee to share experiences with you • Demonstrate confidence and respect for your mentee to build confidence • Be reasonable about your expectations of your mentee Take a Genuine Interest Handle Personal Problems • Show genuine interest in your discussions with your mentee • Practise empathising with your mentee to understand his / her situation, feelings and motives. • Demonstrate appropriate affection and warmth towards your mentee • Listen without interrupting and be patient • Ask questions to help your mentee clarify issues they are experiencing • Support your mentee to list the options available and think them through • Guide your mentee to identify the best solution for him / her, letting the mentee make those decisions • Provide (appropriate) emotional support

Active Listening in Communication Active listening promotes understanding. In a mentoring relationship, it's essential that the mentor understand as much as possible about the mentee. Active listening involves giving the mentee your full attention, being patient and seeking understanding. Use these checklists to support your ability to listen actively when you are mentoring. Give the mentee your full attention Be patient Seek Understanding • Switch off your phone, Skype, email during meetings • Allow no interruptions • Demonstrate interest with verbal cues to encourage mentee to speak [and body language in face-to-face meetings] • Spend the full time allocated for the meeting with mentee • Use empathy to engage your mentee • Respond to mentee’s (spoken or implied) requests for help • Listen quietly whilst your mentor is speaking • Avoid formulating a response whilst your mentee is talking • Avoid interrupting whilst your mentee is talking • Control your emotional reactions and responses • Allow periods of silence to enable reflection on questions or discussion points • Listen first, consider and form opinions afterwards • Ask brief questions to clarify a point • Paraphrase your mentee’s words by repeating them in your own words • Summarize points to validate your understanding • Seek the overall message (avoid becoming diverted by semantics) • Respond to body language / verbal cues which may indicate you need to ask questions to explore further

Delivering Effective Feedback Providing feedback improves performance and helps to build skills. Effective feedback from mentors enables mentees to improve their professional skills, through meeting frequently, providing information and guidance (not advice) and feeding back in a clear, approachable way. Meet frequently Provide information and guidance Feedback clearly in an approachable way • Make yourself available to your mentee • Feedback successes and problems to guide your mentee • Avoid undermining your relationship with your mentee caused by avoiding difficult conversations • Value time with your mentee as a time for mutual learning and professional growth • Avoid telling the mentee what to do • Engage your mentee with exploring more than one possible solution to a problem • Warn your mentee about potential negative outcomes to solutions / actions • Allow your mentee to take risks and experience challenges and even failure as part of his / her learning process • Praise your mentee for successes • Address issues directly and honestly but tactfully • Make your points as clear and easy to decipher as possible • Encourage your mentee to ask about anything that is unclear • Confront (tactically) your mentee to address ineffective work habits or behaviours

Effective Questioning Techniques Asking effective questions can inspire your mentees to think in innovative ways. Questions can guide mentees to make better decisions, whilst discovering ways to develop themselves professionally themselves. Use open ended questions, and enable your mentees to progressthrough the questions that you ask, with these checklists for support. Ask open-ended questions Use opening statements Avoid defensive responses Avoid dead-end questions • Stimulate more detail and emotion in your mentee’s responses • Offer the chance for your mentee to explain his / her point of view • Suggest that there is no right or wrong answer with your questions • Set a direction for the conversation • Use a provocative question to start the mentee thinking • Invite the mentee to consider new possibilities and contemplate things in a different way (e.g. how might technology change value chain programs in 5 years’ time?) • Avoid ‘why’ questions which can elicit a defensive response (E.g. replace why did you organize it like that? With how effective do you feel the organization was?” • Ask rhetorical questions rarely as these can be patronising or insulting • Avoid closed questions (e.g. eliciting the answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’) as this will stall conversation and minimize your interaction • Avoid questions that are too complex as they can derail a conversation (consider asking such a question as a ‘takeaway’)

Managing the Mentoring Relationship Mentoring can involve challenges as well as rewards. Use these checklists as part of learning to negotiate occasional difficult situations or unexpected turns caused by unrealistic expectations, lack of serious commitment from the mentee, insufficient time or rumor / jealousy. Unrealistic expectations A lack of commitment Insufficient time Rumors and jealousy • Develop a mutually agreed set of goals and expectations (e.g. time together, benchmarks for progress) • Renegotiate original expectations regularly • (As needed) reassess the mentoring relationship and adjust for unexpected changes • Formalize involvement in the mentoring process by including mentoring commitment in performance management process • Ask your mentee to evaluate the relationship to receive 360° feedback on your effectiveness as mentor • Adapt your schedule (once committed to being a mentor) to set aside enough time for your mentee • Consider identifying a new mentor if you schedule changes and you cannot commit the time • Delegate tasks (where appropriate and helpful) to your mentee • Maintain professionalism at all times • Strike a balance between publicising the mentoring program and ‘flaunting’ the special status of mentees • Suggest mentees share learnings with their peers and direct reports

Positive Ends to New Beginnings End your mentoring relationship in a positive way to reinforce positively the efforts of both mentee and mentor, regardless of challenges experienced during the mentoring program. Use these checklists to support you to end the mentoring relationship effectively. Thank participants Bestow kudos The principle of a no fault conclusion • Avoid any potential feelings of inadequacy in mentees by thanking the mentee for his / her contribution to the relationship • Express encouragement for them for the future • Demonstrate the value you attached to the mentoring relationships • Discuss the mentee’s successes and talk through strategies to build on • Use encouragement to motivate your mentee to use new skills and tools in their ongoing work • Be aware from the outset that either mentee or mentor can end the relationship (if necessary) without harmful consequences • Conclude any formal contracts as they began

Create a Mentoring Agreement During launch week, meet with your mentee and develop a formal mentoring agreement. Documenting your goals and expectations will clarify the direction and scope of your mentoring relationship. Reference document: Mentoring Agreement • Mentoring Agreement: • Overall goals for relationship • Expectations of how to work together to achieve these goals • Meeting times (frequency, duration) • How to record and monitor progress • Confidentiality agreement • Signature of mentee • Signature of mentor

Using the Mentoring Curriculum Mentors and mentees will use the mentoring curriculum to focus learning every month on a new module. As a mentor, you will need to be familiar with the content of the modules to drive your interactions with you mentee, and prepare adequately for these interactions. • This section will support you with guidelines on: • How to use the curriculum when mentoring via email • How to use the curriculum to provide additional context to the mentee’s journal questions • How to use the curriculum to prepare for the monthly mentoring call • How to use the curriculum in the quarterly forum

Conduct mentoring via weekly emails (1 of 2) Reference document: Mentoring Email Template

Conduct mentoring via weekly emails (2 of 2) Reference document: Mentoring Email Template

Review the Mentee Journal Mentees will use the mentee journal to reflect and answer questions that are included throughout the mentoring module. The journal provides a safe environment for the mentee to document current learning, challenges and issues to share with his or her mentor. Reference document: Mentee Journal • Mentee’s Responsibilities: • Reflect upon past and current value chain work to provide examples in your answers • Summarize your answers in two to three paragraphs, highlighting examples, learning and challenges • Send completed answers to the mentor in preparation for the monthly call • Mentor’s Responsibilities: • Review the mentee’s journal prior to the monthly call • Be prepared to share your feedback and guidance on their answers

Prepare for the Mentoring Call The monthly mentoring call will enable further discussion between the mentor and mentee on learning that has occurred throughout the month via email communications. Follow the steps below as you prepare and conduct the mentoring calls at the end of the month. • Mentor’s preparation for the Mentoring Call: • Read the module your mentee is working through at the beginning of the month, so that you are familiar with the content. • Read the mentee’s journal to understand their answers to the mentoring module questions. • Reflect on the relevance of the module content in relation to your mentee’s value chain work • In your mentoring email one week prior to the call, agree targets for next week: you will discuss these in your call • Prepare for the mentoring call any examples you have, relevant to the previous week’s discussion points to share with the mentee. (Also prepare any relevant tools / templates) • Read the reflection questions the mentee has been asked to complete for this month, and formulate a list of questions you can use to stimulate the flow of conversation on the two discussion points. Use the mentoring techniques (in this pack) to support you. Key Monthly Activities for Mentee and Mentor Represent Activities for Module 2 Represent Activities for Module 1

Agenda for Monthly Mentoring call

Mentor Quarterly Forum

Mentee Quarterly Forum

Mentee / Mentor Evaluation To measure the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship, both mentee and mentor will complete an evaluation form at three intervals during the mentoring program. This will enable mentors and mentees to measure progress and address challenges as they occur. • Mentoring Evaluation • Separate forms for mentee and mentor • Opportunities to: • Reflect on progress made • Highlight challenges • Target areas to improve the relationship • Provide feedback on the program as a whole • Make continuous improvements to the mentoring program

Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships Occasionally mentoring relationships do not work, and it will then be appropriate for the mentee or mentor to end the relationship. Understand these five indicators that a mentoring relationship is not working. Contact the Mentoring Program Coordinator to determine the appropriate resolution if this occurs in your relationship.c Mentor not meeting expectations • Make it clear from the outset that either party can end the relationship if the agreed goals and expectations are not being delivered. Dependent mentees • The mentee cannot learn to act independently of the mentee (i.e. is unable to make decisions on her / his own, or does not take any action if the mentor refuses to make decisions for him / her). Personality conflicts • A mentee and mentor do not get along, meaning meetings are combative and unproductive. Avoid this by becoming acquainted before agreeing to mentor a mentee and ensure personalities match. Incompatible work habits • The working habits of mentee and mentor differ so completely that they are incompatible and mentoring cannot take place. There is little chance of a rewarding, mutually beneficial relationship. • The mentee has learned all he / she can from the mentor. Support the mentee to find a new mentor suited to developing his / her skills further. Mentees outgrowing mentors

Recommended Reading on Mentoring • Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success: Sheila Wellington and Betty Spence • Managers and Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning: Chip R. Bell • Hard Won Wisdom: More Than 50 Extraordinary Women Mentor You to Find Self-Awareness, Perspective and Balance: Fawn Germer • The New Managerial Mentor: Becoming a Learning Leader to Build Communities of Purpose: Patricia J. Fritts • Co-active Coaching: new Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life: Laura Whitworth, Henry House, Phil Sandahl, Henry Kimsey-House

CARE Capability Building